In a recent interview with RTÉ Entertainment on ‘Viva’, which releases to Irish cinemas this Friday August 19th, O’Halloran stated:
"Without the funding there would be no film industry and the film industry pays for itself in the long term, in the profile it gives the country but also in box office receipts etc etc, but that seed money that the film board offers is absolutely vital."
Breathnach also states, "They can take chances if they have a bit more funding, they can look at things and say 'this could be a really interesting space for us to move into' whereas otherwise, if it's reduced too much it becomes maintenance rather than growth."
‘Viva’ received €60,000 in production funding from the Irish Film board in Q1 of 2015 and is produced by Treasure Entertainment. The project was nominated for five awards at the IFTA Film & Drama awards this year, including the award for Best Film and Best Director.
Irish Film Board funding has been a steady presence in Irish film news this year, with Dr. Annie Doona calling for a restoration of its €20M state funding in the ‘Building on Success’ report.
This in turn was echoed by Screen Producers Ireland in its 2015 Annual Report, which stated: “Reinstating the funding to €20m per annum would increase production expenditure to €84m and would, in turn, have a positive impact on jobs in the sector.” SPI CEO Barbra Galvin further stressed the prioritisation of screen production in Ireland due to its economic, cultural and tourism benefits.
The Audiovisual Federation of Ireland also called for a funding restoration, focusing on the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the sector as follows:
“It is vital that in future the Government benchmarks the funding to the Irish Film Board annually against similar agencies in other jurisdictions so that indigenous talent is leveraged and international investment is attracted.”
Watch IFTN’s interview with the ‘Viva’ team